Wood-fired!

Lark’s tongues (mostly aspic)

April 19th, 2008

I just re-discovered this sensuous image when browsing my food photos and felt the need to share it.

Those who had ‘alternative’ taste during the early seventies might remember the King Crimson song (and album) Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. Always a Crimson fan, this song has particular memories because I (with some conspirators) used it as the introductory sound track for my first and only film.

Fascinated by feast dishes of the past and being a keen maker of pies and terrines, aspic has always held a romantic aura.

I have made traditional hand-raised pork pies at Christmas for many years (based on the sage advice of Jane Grigson). I love the degree of construction involved (like making a chair only edible!) and the revelation of the contents (a recurrent theme in almost all my other posts) when the cold pie is eventually cut open.

Of course the jelly is an essential part of a pork pie. It provides the required moisture and should also contribute significantly to the flavour. I make mine in the way described by Jane Grigson - 2 pig’s trotters boiled in a large amount of water with a clove-studded onion and some carrot, celery, bouquet garni and peppercorns. This gives a flavoursome stock which will set very firm. A little experience is required to reduce the stock to a volume that will set well but still be soft and glutinous rather than firm or even chewy.

Traditionally the jelly is clarified before use. I must admit that I rarely do this - partly fear of losing flavour and partly laziness. This pic shows a pie filled with a very opaque jelly that has loads of flavour.

However some occasions require more refinement. When clarified in the trad. way with egg whites, a trotter jelly can look pretty fine.

For my 50th birthday I cooked a degustation of 13 of my favourite dishes for myself and 12 friends. (For me any excuse to cook is a great present.) One of the dishes was my pork pie. In this case I wanted a refined jelly and chose to clarify it. (Some day I will post the full menu for this event - plus the even longer wine list!)

The process is pretty simple. Just whisk egg whites into the stock and simmer it until the egg white coagulates the particles in the stock and forms a raft on the surface. As the filthy-looking raft sets on the surface you get glimpses of golden, clear stock underneath. Order emerges from chaos! The clear stock is strained through a fine cloth.

I had plenty of jelly left over after filling the pies so I set it in a mould and chopped it into the dice you see in the picture. Be sure to click to look at the larger photo to appreciate its sublime amber beauty.

The pies were sliced and served on a silver platter surrounded by the amber aspic - god I wish I’d had time for a photo! - but when you’re serving 169 plates of food with one helper out of a small kitchen you don’t have too much time for reflection.

I hope to describe the making of pork pies in a later post.

Entry Filed under: Food